Courtesy photos/Wikipedia. Far left, a red tail hawk carries a snake up to a place for a forthcoming meal. At near left, a red tail hawk looks for rodents.

Each day, as I drive the rural roads on the way home, I usually see one or more red-tailed hawks on any given day.

This beautiful predator is categorized as a raptor – which is defined as a bird of prey. Being carnivorous (meat eating), Mother Nature has given these birds strong, hooked beaks and feet with three toes pointing forward and one toe pointing back.

Their main weapon is their talons, which are long, curved, and very sharp and are used to kill their prey, which it either swallows it whole or takes in bite-sized pieces. Hawks are classified into two different general groups. – the more common Accipiters and the Buteos.

Examples of the Accipiters are the Sharp-shinned Hawk, the Cooper’s hawk, and the Goshawk. These birds are characterized by long tails and short, rounded wings enabling them to fly through and around trees in pursuit of other birds, which form the basis of their diets.

Typically, Accipiters will fly low with a series of rapid wing beats followed by a brief period of sailing, then another series of wing beats. They are associated with brush and timbered areas. On the other hand, Buteos are broad-winged, broad-tailed soaring hawks that are more readily seen because of their habit of circling high in the air or perching in dead trees or on telephone poles along the road. Included is this group are Swainson’s Hawks, The rough-legged hawk, the Ferruginous Hawk, and the Red-tailed Hawk. The range of the Red-tailed hawk is throughout North America from central Alaska and northern Canada southward down to the mountains of Panama.

Red tail hawks are not considered to be truly migratory but they do adjust seasonally to areas holding the most abundant prey – small rodents and snakes. Eighty percent of their diet is rodents. Contrary to some misinformed folks, red-tailed hawks do not feed on cats and dogs.

The Red-tailed hawk is one of the larger hawks, usually weighing between 2 and 4 pounds. As with most raptors, the female is nearly 1/3 larger than the male and may have a wing span of 56 inches. This species does show a great deal of individual variation in plumage. The adult has a reddish colored tail that may or may not have a black terminal bar. Adults are dark brown on the back and the top of their wings.

The underside of the bird is usually light with a dark belly band, and a cinnamon wash on the neck and chest. Immature birds resemble the adults except their tails are brown with dark bars. The red- tail hawk molts in during its second year. The adult Red-tailed Hawk is easily identified. When it leaves its perch it uses slow, measured wing beats or turns while soaring overhead. Its broad, rounded tail shows a rich, russet red, hence the name of the hawk.

Their frequent soaring and loud calls are a good identification features. The red-tailed hawk call has an elongated hoarse and rasping 2- to 3-second scream that is most commonly heard while soaring. The hawk’s eyesight is reportedly eight times better than humans. The Red-tailed Hawk is the most widespread and familiar member of the American Buteos (large soaring hawks).

They nest in the month of March in tall trees. Like all other Buteos the red-tail hawk does not fly fast but rather soars at high altitudes using its keen eyesight to spot the slightest movement in the grass below. It is quite an aggressive two to four pound bird and will vigorously defend its territory, especially during the winter months when hunting is difficult. T

he Red-tailed Hawk is usually found in grasslands or marsh-shrub habitats. It is a very adaptable bird, being equally at home in deserts and forests, and can be at various heights above sea level. The Red-tailed Hawk is an opportunistic hunter. Its diet is varied, but there is conclusive evidence that 85 to 90 % is composed of small rodents, with rabbits, snakes and lizards included.

In areas where there are large numbers of pheasant, these colorful birds can become the food of choice for the hawks in the spring and summer. Nest building and mating begin in early spring, usually in March and continue through May. Their pre-mating behavior includes spectacular aerial displays by both male and female birds.

Circling and soaring to great heights, they fold their wings and plummet to tree-top level and then repeat this display as much as five or six times.

Their nests are located from 35 to 75 feet high in the forks of large trees. The actual nest is large, flat, but shallow and is made of sticks and twigs about 1/2 inch in diameter. Both male and female birds assist in nest construction. Their nest sites may be used from year to year and are added to by the pair when there is wind damage to the nest during the non-nesting period.

There is strong evidence that hawks mate for life; but typically do not begin breeding until their third year. The female usually lays two dull-white to bluish-white eggs marked with a variety of irregular reddish spots and splotches. Incubation takes 28-32 days and is maintained almost entirely by the female while the male hunts for both of them, bringing her food to the nest.

The young are covered with white down when they are hatched. They grow slowly and require a lot of food, which keeps both parents busy. They remain in the nest for up to 48 days.

During the last 10 days or so the young, which now appear as large as the parent birds, practice flapping their wings and balancing in the wind on the edge of the nest, preparing for the days when they will launch themselves into the air. The young fledge at about 45 days.

State and federal laws protect all raptors. Because of their inexperience hunting, juvenile birds may be seen eating road-killed animals. They may even kill chickens, and despite this rare occurrence, the Red-tail is known throughout the country as a "chicken hawk."

As a consequence, dead hawks are mute evidence that shooters do not understand the economic or esthetic importance of raptors, or perhaps are unaware of protective laws and still kill them indiscriminately.

In rare cases, an individual raptor or hawk will engage in active predation on domestic birds or animals. Such a bird may be judiciously removed in accordance with current regulations.

Fishing report

* Anglers fishing in the surf and piers are routinely landing whiting interspersed with an occasional pompano, small bluefish and black drum.

* A few redfish – usually on the larger size – are also being occasionally caught.

* The roe mullet are in the inlet and river. There are reports of pompano and black drum inside the north jetty.

^ Live shrimp and chunks of blue fin crabs seem to be the favored bait. Sporadic flounder catches are also occurring.

* Offshore, the bottom fishing has been excellent. Limits of red snapper and grouper are getting common for those knowing where the fish are. Despite fluctuations in river temperatures, trout are hitting well on artificial and live bait. Similar activity is occurring in the Tomoka area.

* Mirrolures, Yo-zuri’s and bucktail jigs seem to be the best baits.

* In the lagoon, the fish are spooky probably because of water clarity. Presentation is the ticket rather than colors.

* There are reports of large snook being caught in Haulover canal area.

Ban on grouper fishing starts New Year's Day

Don’t forget the four month ban on grouper fishing starts New Year’s Day at 12:01 a.m. This will remain in effect until the end of April. This ban covers the time of the year that grouper spawn and is closed to both recreational and commercial fishermen alike.

However, the recreational anglers are fighting back. Recently a very impressive array of the major marine industry, recreational angling and environmental groups co-signed an letter to Dr. Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Atmospheric and Ocean Administration (NOAA), calling for reform of recreational angling data collection by the federal government.

“This is the first time in history that the five of the largest ocean environmental groups and the seven of the most significant marine recreational groups have come together to push a solution to a fisheries problem," said Robert G. Hayes, general counsel for Coastal Conservation Association (CCA). "Each and every one of these groups deserve credit for seeing the significance of the issue and agreeing to work toward fixing it.”

The issue of recreational angling data collection has taken on a much greater significance due to the requirements of the revised Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA).

Those revisions mandate an end to overfishing by a time certain through the establishment of annual catch limits and the development of enforceable accountability measures. However, the current data collection efforts fail to provide the accurate data necessary to effectively implement those requirements and the result on the water has been shortened seasons, reduced bag limits and increased size limits.

“The closing down of one fishery after another for recreational anglers was not what Congress had in mind when it reauthorized the Magnuson-Stevens Act in 2006,” said Matt Paxton, CCA federal lobbyist. “There are many critically important conservation measures included in the reauthorization of MSA, but they are all dependent on a functioning, timely data collection system to work as intended. Without it, there is a huge risk that calls by some sectors to gut MSA will gain traction, and no one with a long-term commitment to healthy marine resources wants that.”

The 12 groups signed on the letter agreed that recreational anglers are not at fault for exceeding fishing quotas in some fisheries and acknowledged that most anglers generally adhere to bag, season and size limits.

The problem lies with the tools the federal government is using to monitor recreational catch.

“One way to avoid this never-ending spiral of further restrictions is to put in place a data collection system that makes the timely collection and analysis of recreational catch data a priority. This will enable managers will be able to take action before quotas are exceeded,” the letter states.

Patrick Murray, president of CCA, said, “The groups that signed on this letter do not always see eye-to-eye, but the fact that we are able to come together on recreational data collection demonstrates the significance of this problem and the need for a real solution."

The groups urge NOAA to develop and fund a system to manage the recreational sector in compliance with the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and that such an effort be included in the President’s 2011 budget.

According to the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, the health of the red snapper stocks in the Atlantic Ocean is so bad , that there need to be a temporary ban for fishing for them.

However, fishermen are saying that the data on red snapper that the SAMFC is using is inadequate to make a stark conclusion.

You cannot convince me and numerous others that someone in a government office has counted the fish in any given area. At a recent meeting in Brevard County, an official of the SAFMC was heard by me and several others that the data had come from the catches of a couple commercial fishing boat located in the pan handle.

Another official later in the afternoon denied that but had no plausible answer to explain how it was done. So let’s put that aside for the moment and look at the potential ban.

If it gets approved, a 180-day ban on red snapper from North Carolina to the Florida Keys is expected to take effect around the middle of the year (Late June or early July).

So if the ban starts on July 1, 2010, it would expire December 27, 2010. However, at that time the SAFMC can extend the ban another 186 days until July 1, 2011. In the meantime, the council is drafting Amendment 17 to its Snapper Grouper Fishery Management Plan, which is designed to end overfishing by reducing the red snapper mortality by 88%.

According to the SAFMC’s surveys, recreational anglers harvested 41,772 red snapper in the South Atlantic from 2004-2006.

The U.S. Fisheries and Wildlife Service says that there were 4,247,000 recreational anglers in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina (which are the states managed by the SAFMC.). Therefore, if the red snapper catch is decreased by 88%, those 4,247,000 anglers would be allowed to catch just 2,785 red snapper a year.

If you do your arithmetic, that amounts to roughly 0.0006 red snapper per fisherman per year or one red snapper for every 1.5 anglers.

One question needs to be answered by the SAFMC. The council says that 90% of all red snapper released by commercial fishermen die anyway.

So if that is what they believe, why make the commercial fishermen release any snapper at all. If they did that then less fish would die if commercial boats reach their limit without throwing fish back.

Also, according to the SAFMC’s recreational fishing numbers from 2004-2006, more fish died after release (73,147) than were kept (41,772).

In addition, commercial anglers say that the 90% figure is dead wrong and that there is no way of knowing what the percentage is until the council undertakes a tagging study of released red snapper.

If there is a ban - followed by years of stricter rules on Red Snapper fishing - this will take a major toll on the livelihoods of working fishermen. While I agree with that, let’s take a look at some further details.

In 2001, the SAFMC issued 1,264 vessel permits for commercial; snapper-grouper fishing.

In 2006, the number was down to 974 permits. During the same time period, the number of charter and head boats In Florida doubled from 675 to 1108. So what does all this mean?

The only thing that is certain is that both the red snapper and the red snapper fisherman must both thrive.

Manatee deaths in 2009 a record

Biologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's (FWC) Fish and Wildlife Research Institute have documented the discovery of 419 manatee carcasses in state waters as of Dec. 11. This preliminary data is indicative that the total number of manatee deaths for 2009, has surpassed the highest number on record for a calendar year.

Preliminary totals for 2009, will be available on Wednesday, Jan. 6, unless there is an unusually high number of manatee carcasses reported in the next two weeks. A statewide perspective on these numbers, including category breakdowns will be available at that time. To report a dead or distressed manatee, call the FWC Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922).

For additional information about manatee conservation, visit MyFWC.com/Manatee. For more information on manatee mortality research, visit http://research.MyFWC.com/manatees

Bass stocking program under way

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has been engaged in a bass stocking program. The truth is – it is not that simple. The FWC biologists and others have known for years that merely stocking fingerling bass rarely improves fishing. Biologists at the Florida Bass Conservation Center (FBCC) began pioneering research that enabled scientists to produce larger advanced fingerling bass (approximately four inches long).

The FBCC concentrated on specific conditions where stocking fingerlings actually works. An example of this is that stocking fingerling bass into a new reservoir, a community pond built for fishing, stocking them into a lake following a draught, after a fish kill, or after completion of a of a habitat-restoration can restore a population more quickly than natural reproduction alone. Bass stocking results in a more effective management tool with a larger hatchery, so that they can eat a greater variety of prey.

Further, being larger gives them an advantage because fewer predators can eat them. Although it sounds simple, there have been significant problems. First, largemouth bass are spawned in hatchery ponds because they do not respond well to hormones, such as those used to spawn striped bass. Additionally small bass are cannibalistic, and they do not like artificial foods, which are traditionally used in trout and catfish hatcheries.

Bass were historically grown in fertilized outdoor ponds with lots of zooplankton (tiny floating animals such as insect larvae). Predators, including minnows, frogs and insects ate the eggs and baby fish. When the survivors got larger, other predators like birds began eating the young bass where they were concentrated in the outdoors pond.

Consequently, the FBCC was designed to intensively culture largemouth bass indoors using state of the art technology. The FBCC has the potential to produce more than a million advanced fingerling largemouths annually.

Through research, scientists have found a way to trick bass fry into eating artificial food. It was discovered that by crowding the fry together and feeding them live brine shrimp about the size of a gnat, they would go into a feeding frenzy and be less choosy in what they ate. That allowed researchers to mix in artificial food that was the color and size of the brine shrimp. Once the bass fry began eating artificial food, it was easier to progressively train them to take the larger pellets as the bass grew in size.

Other research has improved culture conditions, fish health management, handling and hauling protocols. Now scientists are comparing survival rates between hatchery fish that are simply stocked at a boat ramp in the traditional manner versus those distributed into vegetated habitats around the lake, so that they are more dispersed and can avoid predation more easily.

One study revealed that advanced fingerling largemouths reared in ponds on live aquatic organisms and stocked in Lake Talquin near Tallahassee fed on fishes more successfully and grew faster that their wild counterparts during the first year of life in the reservoir.

At the end of the first year, hatchery fish comprised forty percent of the bass that survived from that year’s spawn during a year when 25 fish per acre were stocked. Five years after supplemental bass stocking, hatchery fish accounted for 20-27 percent of the bass caught in tournaments.

Research is being conducted in Lake Talquin to determine whether pellet-reared hatchery fish will survive as well as hatchery fish raised on live feed. The Lake Talquin study has provided optimism that stocking advanced sizes of largemouth bass at the appropriate time will become a more successful management tool that will become more widespread.

This information coming from both research and adaptive management is very critical to the long-term success of bass stock-enhancement programs.

Specific spawning strategies are being utilized to protect the genetic integrity of Florida bass populations in the state. The FWC is dedicated to maintaining healthy habitats to stock the fish as well as insuring that that anglers follow the necessary rules to ensure safe, sustainable, quality recreational fishing for all.

Budd's postscript

It has been written that “True wisdom consists in not departing from nature and in molding our conduct to her laws and model.”

So whether you charter, ride a head boat, run your own vessel, stay in the river, surf, or fish from shore or a bridge, there are fish to be caught. Fishing is not a matter of life and death, it is so much more important than that. May all my readers here at NSBNEWS.net have a happy and prosperous new year.

Tight lines,

Capt. Budd